Consumer price index increases slightly in January

Consumer price index increases slightly in January

Vietnam’s CPI in January rose 0.1% over the previous month and increased 2.56% year on year. (Photo: VNA)

NDO/VNA – Vietnam’s consumer price index (CPI) in January rose 0.1% over the previous month and increased 2.56% year on year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

Do Thi Ngoc, head of the GSO’s Price Statistics Department, explained that the CPI in January - the month before the Lunar New Year (Tet) festival - only increased slightly thanks to the abundant supply of goods for Tet.

Compared to the previous month, an upturn was seen in the prices of nine out of 11 groups of goods and services, leading by drinking and tobacco (0.69%), followed by food and catering services (0.66%); garment and textile, headgear and footwear (0.39%); housing and construction materials (0.35%); other goods and services (0.34%), and culture, entertainment and travel (0.33%).

Two groups enjoying a decrease in prices are transport (3.04%), and post and telecommunications (0.09%).

Ngoc said that due to higher demands, the prices of public transport and vehicle maintenance services grew 0.3% and 0.61% over the previous month. Gas price were also up 1.36% month on month.

One of the factors helping control the CPI in the month is the Government’s efforts to stabilise prices of goods, especially fuel with a drop of 0.29%.

At the same time, domestic gold price climbed up 2.25% over the previous month, while that of US dollar has been kept stable.